From the game's opening on-side
kick, the Grand Haven Buccaneers refused to lose sight of the
fact they held their playoff destiny in their own hands Friday
night in their rematch against Rockford.
That thought could not have
been any clearer late in the fourth quarter at Ted Carlson
Memorial Stadium when Buccaneer running back Troy Rutherford
scampered into the end zone from 8-yards out, a touchdown that
cut Rockford's lead to one point.
Without any hesitation, Grand
Haven coach Steve Horodyski decided to go for a two-point conversion.
"We came here to win, knowing
we controlled our own destiny," Horodyski said.
But the Buccaneers failed to
complete their pass to destiny, dropping an emotional 14-13
contest to the Rams.
At 5-4, Grand Haven now must
play the waiting game until Sunday's official playoff pairings
are announced. The Rams clinched an automatic playoff berth
last week when they beat Grand Haven 28-14 on its home field.
After its failed conversion
attempt, Grand Haven managed to get its hands back on the football
at its own 41-yard line with 2:30 remaining in the game, marching
down the Rams' 23-yard line before an illegal procedure and
holding penalty moved them back to Rockford's 41 with 1:32
showing.
Two plays later, Rockford's
Steve Iik intercepted a pass by Grand Haven quarterback Kyle
Moteberg and the Rams were able to take a knee a couple of
times and escape with the victory.
"We called a great two-point
play, but sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear
gets you," said Horodyski, recalling the two-point pass that
went incomplete. We still have chance to get in the playoffs,
but there will have to be an upset somewhere."
The Buccaneers failed to convert
the game's opening on-side kick recovery by Aaron Nash into
points. Rockford then drove down the field, but an interception
by Kyle Amrine at the Rams 1-yard line ended a 15-play drive
that started at Rockford's 16-yard line.
Grand Haven put together an
11-play drive for the game's first touchdown, a 9-yard pass
from Moteberg-to-Alex Kiel.
Rockford's ball-control offense
attack responded on the ensuing possession 17-play, 65-yard
touchdown march which ended with Kik scoring from 5-yards out.
The Rams took a 14-7 lead at the 8:29 mark of the final quarter
when receiver Josh Rauser hauled in a 10-yard pass from quarterback
Spencer Klukowski.
"The two-point play was a gutsy
call at the time because I thought there was still a lot of
time of the clock," Rockford coach Ralph Munger said. "Momentum
was on their side, though.
"We didn't change anything
from our game against Grand Haven last week. We felt like
we just had to execute better and we didn't. This game was as
ugly as ugly can be for us.
The Rams suffered two turnovers
(an interception and fumble), were called for a roughing the
kicker penalty for the third week in a row and were stopped
on downs once late in the fourth quarter that gave the ball
back to Grand Haven and kept alive its hope of pulling off
the upset.
Rockford's top rusher was Bradd
VanderVeen, who finished with 45 yards on seven carries. Klukowski
completed 10-of-15 passes for 98 yards and two touchdowns.
Graham Gardner paced the Buccaneers'
running game with 63 yards on 14 carries. Moteberg completed
11-of-22 passes for 141 yards.